State Fair, 2007

Eric's mom and dad visited us this Labor Day weekend and Eric and I decided that a visit to Minnesota at this time of year would not be complete without...the Minnesota State Fair, of course. Second largest state fair in the nation, thank you very much. (Yes, Texas is the biggest.) Joining us were Roberto and Jack, and Jenny.

Some highlights,

There were A LOT of people there,


This chicken was my favorite. Dude! Artificial selection in action!


Jack gets to check out some animals,



Of course, a big part of the State Fair is the food. Most of it comes on a stick. Among the corn dogs (on a stick of course), pork chops on a stick, mocha on a stick, s'mores on a stick, pancake wrapped around a sausage on a stick, cheesecake on a stick, sloppy joe on a stick, deep fried snickers on a stick, deep fried veggies on a stick, deep fried pickles on a stick, okay, deep fried anything on a stick!, there was also this quintessentially Minnesota item:


I liked these goats a lot, such sweet faces,


Roberto and Jack indulge in a little necessary State Fair retail therapy, going for the obligatory blow up toy (but with a Minnesota State Fair twist-- it came on a stick!). It's a good thing that Jack is too young to understand but the plane was labeled "Pan Am" and several of us made crack about blown up airplanes...


The Blue Ribbon winner of the scarecrow contest (bet you didn't know that there was one!),


After seeing a bunch of bonsai and talking to the various experts there willing to answer all my silly and sometime condescending questions ("So, do you go on little discovery jaunts?"), I decided that creating bonsai tree/plants is really just plant torture. But they are pretty!


Another uniquely Minnesota State Fair thing is the butter sculptures of the Princess Kay of the Milky Way and her court. Kinda weird but somehow compelling at the same time,



This photo wasn't taken on the same day but I wanted to mention that Eric also worked at the State Fair for two days! I'm thinking you will be able to tell exactly who he was volunteering for,